Rolling mill



May 20,1930. J,KE[\|-N-EDY' 1,759,262

ROLLING MILL 'Filed June 25, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 20, 1930. f J. KENNEDY ROLLING MILL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 23, 1926 I INVENTOR I iatented May 20, 1930 UNITED STATES.

FFIQE PATENT noun-re MILL Application filed June 23,

The present invention relates to'rolling mills and more especially to the mechanism for driving the rolls.

In rolling mills such as are used in the iron and steel industry, one or moreof the rolls is vertically adjustable. Suchroll is usually driven through a spindle having wobbler connections to permit of the vertical adjustment of the roll. In rolling mills which are required to do heavy duty suchfor example as blooming, plate, and universal mills, there is considerable strain onthe Wobbler connections which results in the bearing surfaces becoming worn. In fact,

the bearing surfacesbf the wobblers frequently become worn out before the roll .itself.

In order to overcome this objection, I drive the vertically adjustable roll through a straight line driving connection which is maintained by bodily raising and lowering the driving motor together with the roll.

In the drawings which illustrate the pre ferred embodiment of the'invention, 7 Figures 1 and 2'are a plan view and an. elevation, res ectively, ofa rolling mill and its drive, and

Figure 3 is a detail view partly in vertical section showing the means for raising and lowering the driving motor.

Referring td-the drawings, reference numeral 1 indicates generally a rolling mill of theusual type, shown as a two-highmlll having bottom and top rolls 2 and 3. The rolls are mounted in the usual chocks in the housings 4. .The lower roll is fixed. The upper roll is arranged to be raised and lowered in the usual way and is shown as rovided with the usual hold-down screws 5 or its vertical adjustment. .The hold-down screws are opcrated in the usual way by an operating shaft 6, the position of the roll being indicated by the usual dial indicator 7 The rolling mill parts heretofore mentioned are well known in this art and need not be described in greater detail. j 5

The rolls are. shown as driven by electric motors, although other forms of driving motors may be used. The lower roll is driven by a motor 8 carried on a fixed base 9. The

1926. Serial No. 11?.995.

drive is through a spindle 10 connected with the roll and the motor by flexible couplings 11. Since the roll and motor remain in relatively fixed vertical position, the drive through the spindle is substantially a straight line drive and the flexible couplings do not need to be made to take care of any substantial differences of alinement. The flexible couplings are preferably the well known Thomas flexible couplings which are used for rolling mill drives and which comprise flexible steel -discs bolted at different parts of their peripheries to the driving and driven members.

The top roll is driven from a motor 12 through a spindle 13 having flexible couplings 14 connecting it with the motor and roll. A spindle of this type is well known in the rolling mill art as a vibrating spindle. These flexible couplings are pref-' erably of the well known Thomas type and .since the driving connection is maintained as in substantially straight line driving connection, couplings of the flexible steel" plate type may be employed and thus the frictional bearing surfaces usual in the Wobbler type I of coupling may be dispensed with.

In order to maintain a substantially straight line drive between the motor 12 and top roll 3, the motor 12 is arranged to be bodily raised or lowered along with the top roll 3. For this purpose the motor is car ried on a vertically adjustable platform 15 which is raised and lowered by means of ad- 'usting screws 16 which are coupled with the old-down screws of the rolling mill through a connecting shaft 17. The various adjusting screws of the motor platform and rolling mill are driven by a small electric motor 18 which drives a shaft 19 having worms 20 which'mesh with the gears 21 carried on the upper ends of the adjusting screws 16. The connecting shaft 17 through-which the holddown screws of the rolling mill are driven is connected with the shaft 19 through the bevel gear connection 22. I A By means of the coupled adjustments above described, the motor 12 and top roll 3 are bodily raised and lowered together so as to maintain a substantially straight line drive from the motor to the rolling mill roll.

The supporting and adjusting meansfor the motor platform 15 are shown in more detail in Fi ure 3 of the drawings. The lower ends of t e adjusting screws 16 'are held in anti-friction bearings 23 in 'the base plate 24. The platform 15 has threaded bushings 25 in' which the adjusting screws 16 turn to raise or lower the platform 15. The adjusting screws are preferably provided with means for retaining lubricant, shown as flexible leather boots 26 and telescoping tubes 27. The weight of the motor and its platform is preferably carried by means of plungers 28 working in hydraulic cylinders 29 which are supplied with water or oil under pressure from an accumulator of the usual type (not shown). Since the weight of the motor and its drivingplatform is floated bymeans of the hydraulic support, the adjusting screws 16 need serve merely as adjusting. screws to move the motor up and down against the friction or pressure of the hydraulic plung? ers and cylinders. The motor platform is guided in proper vertical alinement by'means of guide rods 30 passing through bushings 31 in the platform 15; The guide rods 30also support the heads 32 u on which is carried the gearing for drivingt e adjusting screws.

While Ihave illustrated and described the referred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to its preferred embodiment but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of e the following claims.

I'claim: Q

1. A rolling mill having an adjustable roll and the usual screw downs for vertically adjusting said roll, a motor mounted at one side of the mill for driving the adjustable 'a motor mounted at one side of the roll stand for driving the adjustable roll; a vibrating spindle flexibly coupled to the motor and the roll, a vertically adjustable support for the 1 motor, and; means or adjusting the motor support to raise and lower the motor to maintailili it substantially level with the adjustable to i I 3. A rolling mill for rolling blooms, plates and the like, comprising a roll stand having the usual rolls through which the work piece is passed horizontally and the usual roll housings and screw-downs for vertically adjusting the position of one roll relative to that of another roll, means for driving the 'tain the motor substantially level with the adjustable roll and thereby maintain a substantially straight line drive from the motor through the spindle to the roll.

4. A rolling mill comprising a roll stand having rolls, housings at the ends of the.

rolls for the roll bearings, means in the housings for adjusting the position of one roll relative to another roll, means for driving the rolls including a motor mounted at one side of the roll stand for driving the adjustable roll, a flexible driving connection between the motor and roll, and means for adjusting the osition of the motor so as to maintain a su stantially straight line drive through the flexible driving connection between the motor and roll. 1

5. A rolling mill comprising a roll standhaving the usual rolls, roll housings and screw-downs for vertically adjustin the position of one roll relative to that 0 another roll, means for driving the rolls including a motor mounted at one side of the roll stand for driving the adjustable roll, a vibrating spindle flexibly coupled to the motor and to the roll, supporting means for counter-bah ancing' the weight of the motor, and adjust-' ing screws coupled with the screw-downs for raising and lowering the motor to maintain it substantially level with the adjustable roll.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.-

' JULIAN KEN NEDY.-

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